On the road out of San Diego, Huston Street was thrilled to make a stop at Target Field. Even, as it turned out, if it was just to see the sights.

Street ended up watching the entirety of the American League’s 5-3 victory in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game.

He sat in the bullpen, chatting with the other National League pitchers until, one by one, all but he and Miami’s Henderson Alvarez made the jog to the mound. Street’s only action was warming up during the final half-inning. He was told he’d have gone in for the save had the NL come back to take a lead.

“A great experience all around,” Street said after his second time as a player who didn’t play in the Midsummer Classic. “Not getting to pitch is just one small part of the whole experience. I had a blast.”

Street did lament the fact the National League wouldn’t have homefield advantage in the World Series.

It could matter to him.

At some point in the next few weeks, Street figures he’ll be standing in yet another new clubhouse.

But on this day, Street was in the moment, far more consumed by being an All-Star than the hovering reality it might be one of the final games he wears a Padres uniform.

“Getting here this year is more special than last time,” Street said, assessing his selection in 2012 as being largely the product of “every team has to have a selection, right?”

More than anything, the fulfillment at being an All-Star this season is that it has come in a sort of renaissance year for the 30-year-old Street, whose father, James, died in September.

“When you lose somebody, my dad was such a figure in my life, it calls into question everything,” Street said. “It calls into question time and how do I want to spend my time.

“To make it based on that . . . When they called my name, I didn’t care if I was the first person at it or the last person at it. It’s really cool just to be included.”

It was his father’s voice Street vividly heard when he was not included among the All-Star team selections announced on July 6.

“I could hear him in my head say, ‘Hey bud, you can be mad today, but if you’re mad tomorrow you’re just feeling sorry for yourself,’ ” Street recalled.

He did acknowledge he was highly disappointed at his initial exclusion. He had a right to be. He’s saved 24 games in 25 chances, posting a 1.09 ERA over 33 innings in 2014.

“You don’t play for recognition,” he said. “But at the same time, principle is principle.”

Street has actually pitched so well, and been so recognized for it, that it’s all over baseball that the Padres have participated in more trade talks about Street than any of their other available players.

This is the right thing. Street is both the most valuable and most expendable Padre. A team that seldom leads doesn’t need a closer.

“Logically speaking, from the organization’s perspective, they have to make some changes,” Street said. “. . . Teams that prove they’re going to lose together, they break you apart. I know for sure that ownership wants to win. I’ve talked to all of them. They clearly want to win. But in order to win, you have to add pieces . . . It’s totally understandable if they say, ‘Hey, we love you here, but we’re getting this in return and we value this for these reasons.’ “

You get a sincere vibe from Street that he really would like to stay in San Diego. He counts Padres manager Bud Black, pitching coach Darren Balsley and bullpen coach Willie Blair, along with Trevor Hoffman, as friends and mentors.

“There is a reason that organization produces pitcher after pitcher after pitcher,” Street said. ”It’s because they really know how to teach pitchers to be better.”

But he misses winning. He knows a team trading for him will be a contender. His two favorite major-league seasons were when he was on playoff teams – in 2006 with the Oakland A’s and ’09 with the Colorado Rockies.

“It’s win-win for me,” he said. “If I get traded, I’m going somewhere I have a chance to win. If I don’t get traded, I’m staying in a place where I’ve had so much success.”